Postwar US empire relied on missionary children and oilmen for regional knowledge

Evidence

For there is very little in what academic experts on the Near East do now that resembles traditional Orientalism of the sort that ended with Gibb and Massignon; the main things that are reproduced are, as I said, a certain cultural hostility and a sense based not so much on philology as on “expertise.” Genealogically speaking, modern American Orientalism derives from such things as the army language schools established during and after the war, sudden government and corporate interest in the non-Western world during the postwar period, Cold War competition with the Soviet Union, and a residual missionary attitude towards Orientals who are considered ripe for reform and reeducation. — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 739 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: American missionary institutions reproduced the imperial character of European counterparts; American postwar Orientalism descended from army language schools, Cold War competition, and missionary zeal. — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 739; Wartime intelligence work gave Orientalists specialized modern regional knowledge (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• American postwar Orientalism descended from army language schools, Cold War competition, and missionary zeal. #corroborates (0.82) — Edward W. Said, Orientalism, 739
• American missionary institutions reproduced the imperial character of European counterparts #expands (0.78)
• American missionaries followed soldiers and merchants, not the reverse #contradicts (0.75)
• Wartime intelligence work gave Orientalists specialized modern regional knowledge #expands (0.72)
• Postwar US power substituted a global base network for direct colonial control #expands (0.72) — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 96
• Christian missionary history forged the fusion enabling modern political redemption #expands (0.72) — Talal Asad, Formations of the Secular, 305